Bill Gates on Usability at Microsoft and Why It's Important to Fix the Little Things

Here's a link to a great blog entry on Todd Bishop's Microsoft Blog. It's entitled "Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant."

Gates was trying to download Microsoft Movie Maker, which is a nice little piece of software that most people probably do not know exists. He runs into about 30 different usability problems, most of which would have caused a normal person to give up on the download.

I'm posting it here because it's a great illustration of what happens when you don't pay attention to the little things. I've been in a lot of meetings advocating for some small usability fix, only to have others decide that it's not worth fixing, not a big enough problem.

Here's an example. One of my clients has a trading screen, which we redesigned. The design included "buying power" at the top, because to trade, you really need to know how much money you have to buy a stock. Well, the developer moved buying power to the bottom of the screen at the last minute, because it was easier to calculate after the user included all of their trade info. But it's really of no use at the bottom. I requested that it be moved back to to the top, but my request seemed trivial, moving just one field, when everything else is fine, so it didn't happen. Now it's been like that for a month. Just a little problem, but if it's not fixed, it will be added in with all the other little problems, and you end up with something like what Bill Gates describes.

Comment on Subtraction: Investing Strategies for iPhone Customers

Well, a cell phone is not a great investment these days, or ever. When I get one, I count on it being worthless, or breaking, by the time I get a new one, but one year is not long enough. Two years is more like it. Have you ever had a phone worth anything when you upgraded to the next one?

So what is one to do?

While I really want the 3G speed, I could do without the GPS. Is it worth 3G to be forced into another $300 phone purchase and adding a year and at least $10 per month onto my ATT contract (even though I do not get a signal in both of the locations where I'm currently working)?

Comment on Good Experience, "Customer experience review: Amazon Kindle"

The Kindle sounds great, but not so great that I want another device. I'd like to buy books for my iPhone. I know it's not perfect for reading, but it's good enough. I read content with it fine, especially from Google Reader, which strips away formatting nicely, even when I go to site from the Google Reader snippit.

Why can't I do this? DRM. Digital Rights Management. If it wasn't for DRM, then Amazon would be selling text that could be downloaded and read on any device.

But because publishers don't trust their customers, Amazon has to invent a book safe called the Kindle.

Imagine the money publishers would make if all of the books on Amazon were available as PDF's or, better, TXT.

All the publishers have to do is ask their friends in the music industry, because Amazon currently sells DRM-Free MP3 downloads from most of the major labels.

Better Putting Change in My Hand Usability

Life would be more usable if we would all just think a bit about what we're doing.

Here's an example. Change back when I buy something with cash. Here is the current practice. The cashier first gives me the receipt, then the paper currency, then the coins, so I end up with a pile of stuff that I usually just wad up and stuff into my pocket, and then empty into a junk drawer at the end of the day.

Here's the better way. Coins, then paper currency, then ask if I want the receipt, which I don't. Now I can slip the coins into my pocket and the paper currency back into my wallet.

Or it could all go on the counter, like in Greece, and I could just deal with it the way I choose.

This won't clear out my junk drawer, but it's a start.

Better Bagal Usability

So I order a bagel with cream cheese at the Panera in Watertown. And what I get is an untoasted bagel cut in half with a container of cream cheese in a bag. I have to tell them to toast it and then I have to spread the cream cheese on the bagel myself. Dunkin Donuts pulls the same trick. This is outsouorcing the cream cheese spreading to the customer. Everybody who orders a bagel with cream cheese wants the cream cheese on the bagel and does not want to do it themselves, so you can go back to the old way and just schmear it on before you bag it. Thanks.

SEED Conference (Part 2) - Carlos Segura

The first speaker was Carlos Segura. He gave a good rundown of T.26, his type foundry, and rebranding his agency did in 2004. The work for both was great, but I found the presentation to be disappointing, because it did not seem to be prepared for the conference. I know a lot of us have canned capability presentations we do for prospective clients, and this is what Segura's presentation felt like. Still, he was very inspiring and had some great advice for those of us running agencies. He said he does not respond to RFP's or do estimates. He asks the client for their budget and that's it. I totally agree with this. Estimates are a waste of time, and are usually wrong, or if you work on a detailed estimate all weekend, you don't get the work.

• Say no as often as you say yes.
• Make it clear to the client that they are not the end user of the design.
• Don't worry about having a plan, or an ROI. Do what you love and the money will come.
• Have some savings so that you can do what you love and fail.

I thought the most interesting work he showed were some photos of manhole covers made in China, India, and Mexico. He also mentioned his Cartype blog and photos of car door handles.

12 Reasons Why I'm Switching from iPhone to Blackberry Bold

Now that the dust has settled on the 3G iPhone announcement, I'm seriously considering switching from my ATT first generation iPhone to the Blackberry Bold. Here's a good comparison of the two devices on Tech Digest. Here's why I'm thinking of switching:

1. Physical keyboard. I'll never be as fast on the iPhone keyboard as I was on a Blackberry.
2. Copy-paste. As I've written before. It's really unforgivable to release any computer without copy-paste.
3. Modem tethering. 3G is fast enough for most of my Internet needs when I'm on the road. It seems the 3G iPhone will be harder to jailbreak to enable modem tethering.
4. Bluetooth headphones for music. There are several great options of wireless headphones for the Blackberry. I'm tired of the wires with my iPhone.
5. To-do list. Again, it's pretty unforgivable not to have one on the iPhone. I know there are plenty online, but these are slower and sometimes not available.
6. Integrated notes. Although the iPhone has notes, they are not saved anywhere on my Mac. So I can't create a note on my Mac and have it appear on my iPhone. Very lame.
7. Instant Messaging. I can't tell if the SDK for the iPhone will allow instant messaging like AIM and Google Talk, but I doubt it. This would have been included in the WWDC demo.
8. Durability. The glass screen of the iPhone is a very poor choice. I'm surprised I have not broken it yet. A phone needs to be able to withstand a drop.
9. Camera quality. The Blackberry has a better camera with a flash. I use the camera on my phone more and more, especially to take photos of whiteboards at work.
10. Video. The Blackberry records video.
11. Voice Memos. This is a great way to record thoughts, or interviews.
12. Third Party Applications. I don't want to be tied down by iTunes and Apple's approval process for downloading third party applications. I'm a big boy. I don't need Apple babysitting for me.

Brilliant Move by Starbucks to Offer Free Wifi

Starbucks has implemented a brilliant loyalty program. It's not some vague program with points and hard to achieve freebies. It's simple - two hours of wifi a day - and easy - just register a Starbucks card online. Before this I've only ever used Starbucks cards that have been given to me and then tossed them when finished. Now I have a card with $50 on it. I'm loyal.

Comment on 3G iPhone - Apple Phone Show

Comment on 3G iPhone - Apple Phone Show What does this mean for those of us with an iPhone 1.0? Will we get the discount if we re-up our ATT contract for 2 years? I was hoping for a bit more from the iPhone. Here's a list:

• Copy-paste would really be nice at some point. I don't feel like this is asking for much. It's basic functionality.
• Modem tethering. Not sure if this is allowed. I do it now on EDGE, but I have to jailbreak the phone. It would be nice if this was sanctioned by Apple and ATT.
• Video. C'mon. Video seems easy.
• Always on instant messaging. That's BS about this running down the battery. My old Blackberry had AIM and ran for days.
• A to-do list that syncs with my Mac. Again, this should have been on the iPhone from day one.
• Voice memos. Hopefully a third party will come out with this.
• Some way (bluetooth?) to hook up an external keyboard. I used to have a handy fold up keyboard for my Palm V. IT was nice when I wanted to take notes at a meeting or write something longer. If I had this, I'd leave my laptop at home more often.

New 3G iPhone Announcement Underwhelming

New 3G iPhone Announcement Underwhelming Well, nothing too surprising out of Apple with the 3G iPhone. It's pretty much what everybody predicted, no surprises at all. And still no cut-and-paste. That's a crime. If there was a high court of computing, Apple would be guilty of a crime against humanity for releasing a computing device without cut-and-past. Looks like the traders agree with me. APPL is down today.

Thoughts on the SEED Conference (Part 1) - The Setting

On Friday, June 6, 2008, I attended the SEED Conference in Chicago at Crown Hall. I'm going to write a few posts about it.

The location was beautiful, on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Crown Hall which was designed by Mies van der Rohe. More on the building later, because Edward Lifson did a great presentation on Crown Hall and Mies after lunch.

The setup was nice for a confernce. Since the hall is one large open space, half of it was setup with chairs and a stage for the presentations, and the other half for eating and milling about.

The food was great, very fresh and healthy, and all catered by Big Delicious Planet, and all very environment, even the plastic flatware was biodegradable.

A wireless network password was provided to each guest, though I wonder if it wouldn't be better if we all just stayed offline and paid attention at conferences. The woman next to me was twittering the entire time. I wonder how much she was able to listen.

Overall, this was the most relaxing setting for any conference I've attended. There were fewer than 300 attendees, so it was small, and plenty of breaks, coffee, and food.

Next, I'll go through the presentations.